Solid Foundations
by azehcaz
Summary: Xena/Gabrielle Uber universe. What happens when a martial artist and a computer hacker cross paths and get caught up in the underworld that is cyber crime?
1. Chapter 1

**So, this is getting put out there to test the waters. I'll keep on writing it if there are nibbles, so...read up, tell me what you think, and whether you reckon there's potential.**

**Disclaimer:**

**Gotta have one of these, right? Basically, this is an uber Xena story. IE, Xena and Gabrielle's souls are in the people called Marlo and Alice (aka Sunny) respectively. But, even though that's the case, Marlo and Sunny _aren't_ Xena and Gabrielle. Their lives, their personalities are my creation. I'm just borrowing the idea of karmic reincarnation from Xena. So, that side belongs to Rob Tapert, any Xena references belong to Rob Tapert, and anything that's not remotely familiar is my brain child...**

**Can ya tell I don't do this often?**

**Background:**

**Marlo:****25 years old. 177cm, 65-70kg, professional Muay Thai Boxer.**

**Alice:****23 years old. Computer hacker. **

**Obviously more information to come. For now...tell me if it seems like it's gonna make the cut... Think of this as the teaser.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1.<strong>

_Thuck, thuck, thuck, thuck, thuck, thuck, thuck, thuck, thuck, thuck, thuck, thuck, thuck, thuck…_ Eventually, the sound of the skipping rope hitting the soft, mat covered floor faded away into nothing. It always happened this way as she let the noise of the song take over the rhythm of the exercise. Concentrating on the song was always a distraction for Marlo Drattini. Half an hour solid of skipping with a half inch thick rope wasn't exactly anyone's favourite thing to do; hell, it was boring. The sweat puddles left by the sodium infused liquid leaving one's fingers, being flicked out at an angle with each wrist rotation was nothing short of disgusting, and before she'd started this sport, the woman hadn't even been aware that her kneecaps could even sweat. A quick flick of her head sent drops of sweat flying from her face as she glanced up at the clock on the wall. One more minute, and the thirty minutes of repetitive torture would be over. Slowly, the rotation of the rope started to increase, whistling through the air as the Muay Thai fighter lifted her knees, eyes glued onto the seconds hand of the clock in front of her. Thirty seconds. The height of her jumps increased slightly as the rope blurred in the air, the brunette performing a series of double rotations, catching her toe on the last turn.

"Mother effer!" Barely in time, the woman censored herself, grabbing at her big toe as pain ripped through it. Balancing on one foot, she examined the rapidly numbing toe, grumbling quietly as it started to go numb. "Almost managed a whole session this time…" Shaking her head, she moved over to her training bag, dumping the rope next to it as she started digging through her bag. Pulling out two long pieces of fabric, she sniffed experimentally at them, wrinkling her nose at the scent of sweat and leather. "'bout time I washed those," she muttered to herself, dropping one on the ground as she slipped her thumb through the loop at the end of the second. Three wraps around her wrist, one halfway around her thumb to change direction, another around the wrist, and then every finger was wrapped individually, leaving her palm free to breathe before the Velcro was done up. Expertly, she wrapped the other hand, flexing her fists before moving back out onto the mats. Half an hour down. One and a half to go…

Walking out of the gym and into the dry air of the city was always a shock to Marlo. Her trainer tried to maintain an atmosphere not unlike Thailand, making the gym hot and humid through the use of heaters and condensation machines. Marlo couldn't argue with the fact that it worked, the sweat that coated the clothes now hidden in the bag on her shoulder attested to that. It just made the walk home rather unfortunate as the gym didn't have showers available on the premises. A damp training bra and underwear were definitely not the way to go. "Just two more days and you get a break," the woman muttered to herself, half wringing out her ponytail. "Sauna trip tomorrow, weigh in after that, food, sleep, fight, then rest." She shook her head with half a grin. "Just…get through the food laden party until you can't stand it, and the rest will be easy."

*****Three Hours Later*****

Bloody hell. Why was she here again? She stifled a groan, eyeing the table laden with food, the weight of it all seeming to make the wooden structure groan at her; tease her. It was at times like this, when she hadn't eaten a proper meal all week, that she chastised herself for choosing a sport where she had to cut weight to compete. Standing at around five foot eight inches and weighing around sixty-three kilo was no mean feat for a woman of her height and build. At the moment she was all skin and muscle, and she knew it. After tomorrow night, though, she'd put herself into a food coma and everythi—She was broken out of her thoughts by the sound of her name being called. "Mar!" Shaking her head to clear it, the brunette turned on the spot. "Gen," Marlo smiled, reaching around to hug her friend. "Great party, huh?" Genevieve Matrode, her old college roommate, who's party it was, stepped back from the embrace, looking at her friend, clucking her tongue like a mother hen. "You're cutting again? Mar…why can't you just fight up a weight class? It's not like you're not strong enough to do it." Marlo opened her mouth to protest using the same reasons she always did, but was cut off before she could even form the words. "Anyway, I just wanted to introduce you to one of my newest friends. We both know how sociable you tend to be, 'specially when you're hungry so…here. Sunny, Marlo. Mar, Alice."

Marlo smiled slightly, offering her hand. "Sunny, huh? Is it the hair, or does it have something to do with your smile," she tried to joke, taking another glance at the table, which creaked invitingly at her again. "Nice to meet you." And that was it. That was her entire ability to be sociable done. Soon, her uncomfortable stance and silence would be noticed, along with the longing glances towards the food and this woman would be gone to mingle with more approachable, friendly people. It was going to be a pity, too. The girl was cute. Oh well. Quarter of an hour more, and she'd be allowed to leave, go home and sleep anyway. No point in trying to make friends. Besides, none of Gen's people were from her side of the road. Laywers and business people weren't her people. Not enough flannel shirts.


	2. Chapter 2

**So, I guess the disclaimer for this chapter is basically the same.**

**I also just want to say that, with the exception of Marlo's Muay Thai trainer, who I am absolutely basing off my own because the man is a master, no one in this is based off of someone in real life. Any likeness to you or someone you know is completely coincidental because chances are, I don't actually know you or anyone you know. So, yeah. Characters are my own, references to Xena: Warrior Princess were my own choice to put in, but any intellectual property from that series belongs to Universal Studios.**

**Aaaand go.**

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><p>CHAPTER II.<p>

She couldn't believe she'd let herself be talked into this. Hell, she couldn't believe she ever let herself be talked into these sorts of things. It wasn't that Alice 'Sunny' Williams didn't enjoy people and socialising, but ethical hacker plus alcohol plus music always equalled dancing akin to moves that looked like they'd been stolen off of a dying person in a horror movie. And yet, every time she was asked out, to a birthday party or the like, she couldn't help but get herself dragged onto the dance floor to join in the festivities. But if she were truly honest with herself, Sunny loved every moment of it. The looks, the laughter… The moment she let herself go, it seemed that everyone else followed suit and it was never very long until the entire room was busting out moves like the sprinkler and the shopping trolley; and tonight wasn't looking to be any different.

Clad in comfortable jeans and a frilly tank top, Sunny took another sip of her beer, letting the cool liquid slide down her throat. Genevieve Matrode had been the newest acquisition to her friendship group. They'd met once, at a conference where Sunny had spoken about hacking when Gen had been a traffic cop. So, when she had become a fraud detective, they'd reconnected purely by accident. She'd needed someone to get past a firewall, and Sunny had been the way to do it. Now, they worked together, with Sunny protected as a consultant, which was how she'd ended up at the detective's birthday party.

"Sunny!" the squeal caused her to wince as the objects of her thoughts almost threw herself across the room at the blonde. Arms wrapped around her, causing her to wheeze out a greeting before she was finally let go, able to look at her friend.

"Happy birthday," Sunny grinned, finally managing to give her friend a return hug, laughing quietly. "You know how to throw a party."

"Never mind that," Genevieve was obviously on a mission. Her chocolate brown eyes were unfocussed, glancing about the room as if she were looking for someone. "Got someone I want you to meet." Sunny suddenly found her hand grasped and she yelped as she was all but dragged across the room, scrambling to keep up with her overzealous friend. "Mar!"  
>"Gen," Finally they pulled up in front of a tall, rather thin yet muscled brunette woman who smiled almost patiently at Genevieve, having just turned around to meet the whirlwind woman. "Great party, huh?"<p>

The hug only lasted a few moments, which immediately told Sunny two things about the woman. She knew how to be polite, but she was introverted. The tone of her voice was aimed at calming Gen's excitement at the whole situation but at the same time, the brunette played along, letting her personal space bubble down for just a second in order to make the slightly shorter woman feel comfortable.

"You're cutting again? Mar…why can't you just fight up a weight class?"

Fighting? Sunny zoned out slightly, eyeing the woman again. That made sense now. The way the woman's eyes flicked back and forth from the food table highlighted the fact that she was hungry, but couldn't eat. She could see that the taller woman was taken aback, opening her mouth to speak when Sunny felt herself thrust forward, taking a step closer.

"I wanted to introduce you to one of my newest friends," Gen was saying, gesturing animatedly, speaking at a million miles an hour and Sunny glanced up at the other woman's face, looking at her apologetically and immediately got lost in deep blue eyes. The rest of what Gen said went straight over the blonde's head as she just…drowned, willingly, into the blue orbs.

It suddenly occurred to the hacker that she was being spoken to, and she quickly cleared her throat, taking the offered hand.

"Right, Marlo, that's a pretty name," she replied as she reached out to shake the offered hand, wondering how she'd even managed to take in anything of what had just been said. "It's nice to meet you too."

"Marlo's the kickboxer I've been telling you about at work," Gen interjected, before hands reached out to pull her away, leaving the blonde and brunette alone to figure out exactly why their friend wanted them to talk.

"Ooh!" Sunny smiled, nodding her head. "You're the kickboxer. You fight pro, right?" A slight smile seemed to light the brunette's lips, quirking one side slightly.

"Muay Thai, acutally. There's a difference between kickboxing and thai boxing."

"Ah."

For a second they fell into silence, Sunny taking another sip from her beer as Marlo threw another longing glance over at the food.

"So, that's why you're so thin, right?" Sunny wondered, giving her a quick glance over. "I mean, not to say you look gaunt or hollow or anything…" She quickly trailed off, wondering how rude it would have sounded. _Just what you'd do,_ she chastised herself quietly. _Piss off the martial artist…_ Instead, she was awarded with a slight chuckle from the taller woman.

"Something like that. I have a fight this weekend, which means weigh ins, which means minimal food and right now, minimal water," Marlo replied, shrugging slightly. "I mean, I try to maintain some sort of fitness level, but cutting weight makes me look like someone decided to suck my skin into any hollow part of my body."

"Oh,"

The single word fell from the blonde's mouth again, unable to think of anything else to say. Why would Gen've wanted to introduce her to the brunette? They had nothing in common, nothing to talk about, nothing—

"So, how do you know the birthday girl?"

Sunny snapped herself back into reality, glancing in the direction that their friend had disappeared. "Ah. We work together. I'm a hacker. Not one of the 'let-me-at-your-nude-pictures' types, but it's basically the same thing. If the police department needs to decrypt something, or get passed something, I'm their gal. Been working with Gen for about six months now. You?" The tall woman leant back against the wall, looking thoughtful.

"We were roommates at college," she replied. "Gen was studying criminology, I was doing pre-med at the time. I've no idea how we even ended up in the same building, but yeah. Put in a room together." She gave a small, musical laugh. "After I dropped out to pursue my fighting career, she decided she was going to be my own personal cheerleader and I haven't gotten rid of her since."

"Speaking of which," Marlo turned her head slightly. "All this food is getting to me. I need to rest up. Big day tomorrow. Got a lot to do tomorrow, and none of it includes eating until almost nine tomorrow night. But it was really nice to meet you." Again, Marlo held out her hand and the woman in front of her took it with a slight smile.

"Good luck with everything," Sunny replied, glancing around for Gen. "It was really nice to meet you."

"You too."

And with that, Alice found herself alone again, left in the wake of a cool chill, whose presence could only be explained by the absence of the tall brunette in front of her.

"Damn," Sunny cursed, rubbing the hand she'd used to shake Marlo's as she stared in the direction the woman had just left, the thought of those blue eyes haunting her. "Who is she?"


End file.
